BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Emily Turner and Louisiana-Lafayette’s Danyele Gomez have been selected the Louisiana Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week, as announced by the Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association on Monday.
Turner went 2-0 in the circle for the Tigers, winning her fifth and sixth consecutive starts, while allowing only three hits in her two complete-game wins. The junior threw her third one-hitter of the season in a five-inning run-rule win over South Carolina in the first game of the Southeastern Conference series. The one hit was an infield single in the fourth inning, the only base runner she allowed in the game.
She came back in the third game of the series and allowed two hits in the first inning before retiring the final 13 batters in order to end the game in the run-rule win. In 10 innings, she did not allow a walk while striking out 16 for an 11.2 strikeout per seven innings average. Her two complete-game shutouts gave her 10 for the season, tying her for the fifth most in a single season in LSU history.
Gomez became only the eighth player in NCAA Division I history to reach 70 career home runs as she hit No. 70 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. For the week, she went 10-for-20, including her first career triple with a pair of home runs. In addition, the senior from Metairie scored six runs and drove in five as the Lady Cajuns swept six games at home.
With the six runs scored, she increased her total to 49 for the season, which established a new career best for the outfielder. Her 10 hits also moved her past 50 for the season, marking her fourth consecutive season with 50 or more hits.
This was the first Louisiana Player of the Week honor for Gomez this season and the first for Louisiana-Lafayette. It marked the third consecutive Louisiana Pitcher of the Week honor for Turner and the fourth straight honor for LSU.